(Almost seven printed pages, and something of a satirical polemic — a lampoon, if you will. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THE THREE CITIES AND THOUSAND Villages of the Uulian Commonwell are home…
Category: Writing
My own serious stuff; the craft itself; those who inspire me in it; the art of reading.
Holy Trap (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Five-and-a-half printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THERE IS A SAYING ABOUT the religious life: that it’s only for the broken in spirit, heart, and/or mind. That was one small reason why…
Prosatio Silban and the Uninvited Guest
(Three printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) THE RHYTHMIC RAPPING OF STEEL on wood filled Prosatio Silban’s cozy galleywagon with the sharp tang of garlic, and he marveled – not for…
20 Observations on Newspaper Reporting
ALTHOUGH THEY RELY ON THEM, few people say they actually trust the news media. (I call it “Ross’ Paradox.”) Everybody has a story. And many want to share it. Newswriting is a form of reality-creation, wherein readers trust you to…
Prosatio Silban and the Final Kindness
(Two printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) OF THE NUMBERLESS CREATURES INHABITING the Exilic Lands, none are perhaps so quaint as the lumbering buopoth – and though no two descriptions agree…
Soul Food (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Seven printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) PROSATIO SILBAN’S FACE WAS THE picture of dispassionate interest, but his heart gave a familiar tug of weary resignation. This is what comes of…
Prosatio Silban and the Iron Dray-Beast
(Five-and-a-half printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) ALTHOUGH PROSATIO SILBAN’S COUNTRYMEN WERE were wary of most forms of magik – spells, illusions, conjurations, astral mucking-about – their phobia didn’t quite extend to…
Love Famine (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Five-and-a-half printed pages, and a bit ribald. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THE KEEP’S NAME WAS “CASTLE Cautroffs,” after an ancestor of its then-current occupant. But Prosatio Silban was to remember it as…
A Tool and a Tease
PATIENT READERS OF MY RIMLESS Sea stories will, I hope, find this document of some value: it’s a PDF catalogue of every Prosatio Silban tale I’ve so far completed; at this writing, only about half have been published here. Go…
Chopped Roots (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Eight printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) WHETHER IT WAS THROUGH A dream or a vision, Prosatio Silban knew one thing with absolute certitude – his beloved mentor was dead. He arose…
Prosatio Silban and the Fellow Seeker
(Four printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) SOME MORNINGS, THE FOOD BAZAARS in many-quayed Soharis are a-bustle with moneyed and caffeinated customers; others substitute sustained novelty for their pitiful lack of custom.…
An Arrow Escape (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Four-and-a-half printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THE LAW IN STONY-HEARTED Tirinbar mandated that all escaped slaves and their liberators were to be killed when located – but that could not deter…